The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, the largest fee-only financial advisor group in the U.S., has gathered its top advice for people at various stages of planning for retirement. Here are eight items NAPFA recommends you address when you’re five years from retirement:

1. Separate your retirement “needs” from your retirement “wants.” Needs include your essential living expenses, such as food and housing costs, taxes and insurance premiums, while wants include discretionary expenses, such as travel and entertainment...

In retirement, rules of thumb are often a good starting point, but rarely are they the right answer for anybody. I’ve touched on one example at length in this previous blog post and video, and tackle another one here.

When people are trying to figure out what their expenses are going to be in retirement they’ll likely run into the 80% rule; this states that generally you will need approximately 80% of your pre-retirement income each year to live in the manner to which you were accustomed...

Sobering fact for the millennials out there: according to a new study, the average student loan debt of $35,000 can cost graduates nearly $700,000 in lost retirement savings over a 50-year period...

Though people are feeling more positive about their financial prospects overall, many Americans are running just to stay in place. They prefer to keep current on today's bills or dig out of debt, which comes at the expense of saving for the future, a recent survey of financial priorities from Bankrate shows...